ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. - The NC Wesleyan College Football team powered past conference foe Southern Virginia University 19-10 on Senior Day Saturday afternoon. The Bishops used a nice combination of offense and defense to corral the victory.
The win improves Wesleyan to 4-5 on the season and 4-3 in the USA South. The Bishops used three touchdown passes from freshman QB Zachary Marquis and a terrific run game that rushed for 167 yards led by 121 from RB Anthony Byrd. Wesleyan totaled 335 yards of offense in the victory.
A scoreless first quarter saw the Bishops end a SVU 10-play 80-yard drive with Tim Willis forcing a fumble helping keep the the Knights off the board early. SVU would then add a field goal early in the second quarter before a 4-play 44-yard drive ended with Marquis throwing a 34-ayrd TD pass to Sophomore WR Elijah Love for the Bishop's first touchdown as Wesleyan took a 7-3 lead at the break.
Wesleyan then drove the ball 64 yards in 8 plays midway through the third to grab their second touchdown as Marquis threw a beautIful pass to Love again in the end zone, but this time for 15 yards to put the Bishops up 13-3. SVU would then add a score of their own to close the third and get within 13-10.
NCWC, though, would put the game away late in the fourth as Marquis tossed a 8-yard TD pass to sophomore WR Sean Washington to complete a 9-play 61-yard drive. The Wesleyan defense then stood tall forcing a SVU punt to ice the game.
Love finished the day catching 4 passes for 89 yards and two scores while Marquis threw for 133 yards and three touchdowns on 8 of 11 passing.
Defensively, Wesleyan was led by sophomore linebacker Luke Moorhead's 9 total tackles while sophomore DB Benyon Williams led the team with 7 solo tackles along with a TFL and 2 pass breakups. Linebacker Jaydon Denmark also recorded 4 tackles along with a big second half sack resulting in a 9-yard loss that forced a 4th down for the Knights. Junior safety RJ Carter and linebacker Deante Lucenti also each made 6 tackles while LBs Alex Nease and Tim Willis each forced SVU fumbles.
SVU falls to 2-8 on the year and 1-7 in the conference.
The Bishops will close out their season next Saturday with their final road game when they go to Methodist to battle their rivals at 5 PM.